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I was reading a "Guide to Some Minerals and Rocks in Indiana," which was published in the 1950s, and in it there were these bewildering directions:
"Bluff along Mud Pine Creek 1.5 miles west of Rainsville, SW 1/ 4NE1/ 4sec. 29, T. 23 N., R. 8 W."
It is on p.38 of this pdf: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/235/C04.pdf?sequence=1
How may those directions be made understandable?
SW 1/ 4NE1/ 4sec. 29, T. 23 N., R. 8 W is not a direction, it's a location. Specifically, it is the southwest quarter of the NE quarter section of section 29, township 23 North, range 8 West. These terms are with respect to the public lands survey system (PLSS). Using the BLM Interactive map I navigated to this location and then eyeballed the SW quarter of the NE quarter section and get a lat/lon of 40.412643, -87.347025. This is roughly where Mud Pine Creek meets CR650.
Here's what the map looks like with the cursor pointing to the approximate location.
